Deputies: Woman hid drugs in courthouse elevator

WINCHESTER, Ind. – While attempts to smuggle controlled substances into jails and prisons are fairly common, the methods a Richmond woman allegedly employed in trying to get drugs to her jailed boyfriend were unique.

Jessica Trystan Hersey, 24, was arrested by Randolph County sheriff’s deputies on Tuesday, accused of at one point hiding suboxone strips – frequently prescribed to opioid addicts – in an elevator in the Randolph County Courthouse.

A conspiracy called for another Randolph County jail inmate, in the elevator en route to a court appearance, to retrieve the strips – taped to the interior of a handrail – and deliver them to Hersey’s incarcerated boyfriend, Justin Harrison.

Hersey is also accused of mailing packages to the jail – purported to be from defense attorneys – that contained methamphetamine and suboxone.

An affidavit alleges the 37-year-old Harrison was “selling the (drugs) in jail for money, phone cards and commissary.”

Hersey is also accused of “collecting money from family members of incarcerated persons who had purchased drugs from Justin Harrison,” the document said.

Hersey is preliminarily charged with conspiracy to deal in meth, conspiracy to deal in a controlled substance, forgery and three counts of trafficking with an inmate. She was being held in the Randolph County jail under a $12,000 bond.

Prosecutor David Daly’s office on Wednesday was granted 72 additional hours to file formal charges in the case.

One of Hersey’s alleged attempts to mail drugs to the jail failed because the package had insufficient postage and was “returned” to its purported sender, a Portland lawyer, in August.

The affidavit, written by detective Tom Pullins, also recounts many phone conversations, recorded at the jail, that involved Hersey, Harrison and other alleged conspirators.

Interviewed on Tuesday, Hersey allegedly admitted to the allegations, also acknowledging in May she gave meth and suboxone to an inmate out on work release who later delivered the substances to Harrison.

Harrison, also of Richmond, was convicted of burglary in Randolph County in 2013. He had more recently been in the county jail based on allegations of probation violations.

He was also convicted of burglary in Wayne County in 2010, and in April was charged with possession of methamphetamine in Wayne Superior Court 1.

Douglas Walker is a news reporter at The Star Press. Contact him at 765-213-5851 or at dwalker@muncie.gannett.com.